WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.540 21 number one hits in a row. Not a single miss. 00:00:05.059 --> 00:00:08.539 No slumps. No like awkward sophomore slumps. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:11.580 No experimental phases that alienate the fan 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:15.439 base. Just nothing but hits. Yeah. Zero margin 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:18.980 for error. It's wild. I want you to imagine executing 00:00:18.980 --> 00:00:22.980 your job with absolute undisputed flawless commercial 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:26.579 perfection for nearly seven entire years. I mean 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:28.890 the sheer pressure of that. Right. The pressure 00:00:28.890 --> 00:00:30.929 of waking up on day 2000, knowing you haven't 00:00:30.929 --> 00:00:33.350 made a single mistake yet and knowing, you know, 00:00:33.390 --> 00:00:34.969 the entire industry is basically just waiting 00:00:34.969 --> 00:00:36.929 for you to finally drop the ball. It's the kind 00:00:36.929 --> 00:00:39.509 of pressure that completely defies the laws of 00:00:39.509 --> 00:00:41.909 probability, honestly, because at a certain point 00:00:41.909 --> 00:00:44.289 it stops being about the music itself. Oh, totally. 00:00:44.369 --> 00:00:47.070 It starts becoming an exercise in structural 00:00:47.070 --> 00:00:49.030 engineering. Like how long can you keep the tower 00:00:49.030 --> 00:00:51.210 standing before a slight breeze just knocks the 00:00:51.210 --> 00:00:54.710 whole thing over? Exactly. And that is exactly 00:00:54.710 --> 00:00:56.710 what we're getting into today. Welcome to this 00:00:56.710 --> 00:00:59.789 deep dive. Today we are looking at a very specific 00:00:59.789 --> 00:01:03.070 artifact from music history. We're digging into 00:01:03.070 --> 00:01:05.750 the historical record of the 1986 country music 00:01:05.750 --> 00:01:07.769 hit. You've got the touch by the band Alabama. 00:01:08.170 --> 00:01:10.030 Such a fascinating track to look at. It really 00:01:10.030 --> 00:01:13.140 is. But our mission today isn't just to review 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:15.599 a single piece of music. For you listening right 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:19.060 now, we are dissecting the mechanics of a historic 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:21.959 uninterrupted winning streak in the music industry. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:23.959 Yeah, how they actually pulled it off. Right. 00:01:24.099 --> 00:01:26.200 We are going to look at the exact formula it 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:28.599 takes to build a monolithic pop culture tower, 00:01:29.060 --> 00:01:31.219 the gatekeepers you have to appease to keep it 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:34.400 standing, and more importantly, what happens 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:36.859 when you finally decide to pull the wrong block 00:01:36.859 --> 00:01:38.739 and the whole thing just comes crashing down? 00:01:38.909 --> 00:01:42.069 It is really the ultimate case study in commercial 00:01:42.069 --> 00:01:44.980 art. because this particular song isn't just 00:01:44.980 --> 00:01:48.879 a hit. It serves as the climax, like the absolute 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:52.299 apex of an era of commercial dominance that we 00:01:52.299 --> 00:01:54.459 rarely see in any medium, let alone something 00:01:54.459 --> 00:01:56.900 as fickle as the 1980s music industry. Okay, 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:58.780 let's unpack this, because to understand how 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:01.500 you build a 21 -song tower, you really have to 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:03.060 look at the bricks. You have to look at the foundation, 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:07.200 yeah. So in December 1986, Alabama poured a very 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.659 specific kind of concrete to keep their streak 00:02:09.659 --> 00:02:12.490 alive. Let's... Let's look at the specs here. 00:02:12.490 --> 00:02:15.490 Let's do it. They release You've Got, The Touch, 00:02:16.169 --> 00:02:18.550 as the second and final single from their album, 00:02:18.710 --> 00:02:20.949 which was appropriately titled The Touch. It 00:02:20.949 --> 00:02:23.590 comes out under RCA Nashville. Right, a massive 00:02:23.590 --> 00:02:26.729 label. Huge. And it clocks in at exactly four 00:02:26.729 --> 00:02:29.689 minutes and 15 seconds. And the writing credits 00:02:29.689 --> 00:02:33.610 go to the trio of Lisa Palace, John Gerard, and 00:02:33.610 --> 00:02:36.310 Will Robinson, with production handled by Harold 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:39.449 Shedd alongside the band themselves. What's fascinating 00:02:39.449 --> 00:02:42.689 here is the absolute precision of that packaging. 00:02:42.889 --> 00:02:44.550 I mean, when you hear that list of names, you 00:02:44.550 --> 00:02:46.129 aren't just hearing a list of guys who happen 00:02:46.129 --> 00:02:47.849 to be hanging around the studio. Right, it's 00:02:47.849 --> 00:02:50.949 not a jam session. Exactly. You are hearing the 00:02:50.949 --> 00:02:53.569 machinery of the Nashville co -writing system 00:02:53.569 --> 00:02:56.469 at work. In the mid -80s, you didn't leave a 00:02:56.469 --> 00:02:58.949 multi -year winning streak to chance. or to, 00:02:58.949 --> 00:03:00.830 you know, the whims of inspiration. You bring 00:03:00.830 --> 00:03:03.090 in the pros. You brought in architects. Harold 00:03:03.090 --> 00:03:04.909 Shedd and those specific writers were brought 00:03:04.909 --> 00:03:07.849 in because they understood the formula. The historical 00:03:07.849 --> 00:03:10.930 record explicitly describes this song as a ballad 00:03:10.930 --> 00:03:13.469 performed in the band's signature mellow style. 00:03:13.629 --> 00:03:16.310 Signature mellow style. Yes. And that phrase, 00:03:16.310 --> 00:03:18.870 signature mellow style, is the key to everything. 00:03:19.289 --> 00:03:21.969 They aren't experimenting. They are engineering 00:03:21.969 --> 00:03:25.300 a product. designed to slide perfectly into a 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:27.379 groove they've already carved out with the album's 00:03:27.379 --> 00:03:29.659 previous hit, which was, Touch Me When We're 00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:32.180 Dancing. See, I look at that phrase, signature 00:03:32.180 --> 00:03:35.659 mellow style, and I immediately think of like 00:03:35.659 --> 00:03:37.340 McDonald's french fries. Okay, I see where you're 00:03:37.340 --> 00:03:39.280 going with this. Right. because people don't 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:42.599 go to McDonald's hoping the chef tried a crazy 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:45.419 new artisanal seasoning today. They go because 00:03:45.419 --> 00:03:48.020 they want the exact same fry they had in 1980. 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:50.740 They want consistency. Exactly. So my question 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:54.240 is, if a band releases a ballad that sounds exactly 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:56.599 like what people expect, are they just playing 00:03:56.599 --> 00:03:59.659 it safe to protect their status? I mean, at what 00:03:59.659 --> 00:04:02.400 point does a signature style just become a creative 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.840 safety net? Well, I wouldn't call it just playing 00:04:04.840 --> 00:04:07.960 it safe, actually. I think that severely understates 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:09.719 the difficulty of what they were doing. Oh, really? 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:13.439 How so? Because delivering a flawless pop country 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:16.740 ballad 21 times without boring, the audience 00:04:16.740 --> 00:04:21.160 takes absolute genius. Mastery and safety might 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:23.360 look identical from the outside, but creating 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:26.199 that exact same emotional response without sounding 00:04:26.199 --> 00:04:29.360 like a total rehash is a razor's edge. Okay, 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:31.779 that's a fair point. It's hard to be consistently 00:04:31.779 --> 00:04:35.300 good without being boring. Exactly. But you're 00:04:35.300 --> 00:04:38.259 right to look at the commercial motive. By late 00:04:38.259 --> 00:04:41.459 1986, Alabama wasn't just a band, they were an 00:04:41.459 --> 00:04:44.319 institution. And institutions are, by nature, 00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:46.560 naturally risk averse. They have too much to 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:48.680 lose. Right. Just look at the physical release 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.079 itself. The B -side, like the bonus track you'd 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:52.759 get when you bought the physical vinyl single, 00:04:53.139 --> 00:04:55.939 was a song called True True Housewife. Oh, man. 00:04:56.170 --> 00:04:58.730 Talk about Know Your Demographic. Isn't it wild? 00:04:58.930 --> 00:05:01.069 It shows a production team that knows exactly 00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:03.649 who is buying the records, exactly what their 00:05:03.649 --> 00:05:05.889 daily lives look like, and exactly what kind 00:05:05.889 --> 00:05:07.889 of emotional validation they want from their 00:05:07.889 --> 00:05:11.189 music. It is a highly, highly calibrated product. 00:05:11.449 --> 00:05:13.470 And when you say highly calibrated, we need to 00:05:13.470 --> 00:05:15.370 put the hard numbers to this because this brings 00:05:15.370 --> 00:05:17.569 us right into the sheer scale of the tower they 00:05:17.569 --> 00:05:20.339 had built. The numbers are staggering. They really 00:05:20.339 --> 00:05:23.199 are. You've got the touch hit number one on the 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:25.860 Billboard Hot Country singles chart in April 00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:29.699 1987. But it wasn't just an American phenomenon. 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:31.759 Really, the cross borders. Yeah, it hit number 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:34.060 one on the Canadian RPM country tracks too. So 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:36.579 it dominated the entire North American continent. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:40.500 And this was their 21st consecutive chart topper. 00:05:41.180 --> 00:05:44.139 21 number ones in a row. If we connect this to 00:05:44.139 --> 00:05:47.629 the bigger picture. The sheer statistical improbability 00:05:47.629 --> 00:05:51.110 of that is just, it's mind blowing. This uninterrupted 00:05:51.110 --> 00:05:54.029 streak dated all the way back to August 1980 00:05:54.029 --> 00:05:56.589 with their song, Tennessee River. So that's almost 00:05:56.589 --> 00:05:59.370 seven years. Yes, for nearly seven years. From 00:05:59.370 --> 00:06:01.470 the dawn of the decade right through to the late 00:06:01.470 --> 00:06:04.449 80s, this group maintained the exact pulse of 00:06:04.449 --> 00:06:07.100 the public. But to really understand how rare 00:06:07.100 --> 00:06:09.160 that is, you have to remember how the industry 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:11.500 worked before the internet. Right. No algorithms 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:13.639 to help you out. Exactly. There was no Spotify. 00:06:13.819 --> 00:06:17.019 There was no viral TikTok trend to push a song 00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:19.000 up the charts overnight. Right. You had radio 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:22.399 gatekeepers. Precisely. Radio programmers were 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:25.459 highly risk averse gatekeepers. If you strayed 00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:28.259 from the formula, a radio station manager in 00:06:28.259 --> 00:06:31.379 Ohio or Texas would simply refuse to put your 00:06:31.379 --> 00:06:34.000 vinyl record on the turntable. And then your 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:37.160 streak is done. Right there. To not have a single 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:39.680 miss, to never release a track that stalled at 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:43.000 number two or number five, just because a few 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:45.759 key radio stations didn't like the vibe, requires 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:49.220 an alignment of songwriting, timing, cultural 00:06:49.220 --> 00:06:52.079 mood, and marketing that is almost impossible 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:54.220 to replicate today. Here's where it gets really 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:57.019 interesting. Let's bring back that Jenga analogy 00:06:57.019 --> 00:06:59.300 from earlier. Oh, I love the Jenga analogy. It 00:06:59.300 --> 00:07:02.180 fits perfectly. So in 1980, they pull the first 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:04.899 block, Tennessee River, and place it on top. 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:07.600 The tower is completely solid. But with every 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:09.660 single consecutive number one hit over the next 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:11.660 six years, they are pulling another block. And 00:07:11.660 --> 00:07:13.980 it gets more and more unstable. Exactly. The 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:16.560 tower gets taller and taller and visually more 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:19.500 impressive to everyone in the industry. But structurally, 00:07:20.019 --> 00:07:21.740 the pressure to not be the single that makes 00:07:21.740 --> 00:07:24.139 the whole thing topple over becomes immense. 00:07:24.259 --> 00:07:26.839 You can't make a single wrong move. Right. By 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:28.740 the time they are recording, you've got the touch. 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:32.759 They are placing the 21st block on a tower that 00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:36.740 is basically swaying in the wind. Just imagine 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:39.300 the psychological weight of walking into a studio 00:07:39.300 --> 00:07:42.279 and knowing, if this goes to number two, I am 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:44.519 the one who ruined the streak. Oh, it would be 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:46.699 paralyzing. Because when you have a tower that 00:07:46.699 --> 00:07:49.779 tall, you do not make sudden movements. You stick 00:07:49.779 --> 00:07:52.160 to the signature mellow style. You stick to the 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:55.350 fries. Yes. You rely on the formula that has 00:07:55.350 --> 00:07:58.790 kept the tower standing for 20 blocks. The market 00:07:58.790 --> 00:08:01.550 rewards consistency. The radio stations know 00:08:01.550 --> 00:08:03.490 exactly what they're getting. The fans know what 00:08:03.490 --> 00:08:05.569 they're buying. Everyone's happy. Right, so the 00:08:05.569 --> 00:08:08.350 risk of deviating from the formula becomes existential. 00:08:08.850 --> 00:08:10.829 It's no longer just about whether a song is good. 00:08:11.009 --> 00:08:12.649 It's about whether the song can bear the weight 00:08:12.649 --> 00:08:14.750 of the 20 songs that came before it. Which makes 00:08:14.750 --> 00:08:17.209 what happens next so completely fascinating. 00:08:17.389 --> 00:08:19.629 Yeah. Because every Jenga tower eventually falls. 00:08:19.810 --> 00:08:23.139 They always do. Always. And the streak was officially 00:08:23.139 --> 00:08:26.060 broken by the very next follow -up single, released 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:30.220 in November 1987. This song was called Tartop. 00:08:30.839 --> 00:08:33.139 And it didn't just miss the number one spot by 00:08:33.139 --> 00:08:35.679 a hair, it peaked at number seven. Which, you 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:37.639 know, to be fair, is a very respectable chart 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:39.360 position for almost any other band in the world. 00:08:39.419 --> 00:08:42.139 Oh, absolutely. Number seven is a massive life 00:08:42.139 --> 00:08:44.259 -changing hit for a normal artist. For sure. 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:46.159 But for a band that hasn't seen anything but 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:49.559 number one for nearly seven years, A number seven 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:52.220 is a commercial earthquake. The tower has hit 00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:55.000 the floor. But the most crucial detail from the 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:58.960 historical record is the why. The Y is everything. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.679 Yeah, because Tartop is explicitly described 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:04.460 in the sources as semi -autobiographical. And 00:09:04.460 --> 00:09:07.000 there is the mechanism of the failure. That is 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:09.720 the exact pivot point. Let's analyze that stark 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:11.259 contrast because it tells us everything about 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:13.340 how pop music works. Okay, lay it out. On one 00:09:13.340 --> 00:09:16.539 side you have, you've got the climax of the Strik, 00:09:17.059 --> 00:09:19.460 a song written by three outside writers, carefully 00:09:19.460 --> 00:09:23.059 produced to fit a universally appealing, comfortable, 00:09:23.539 --> 00:09:25.919 mellow ballad formula. Very safe. Very safe. 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:29.879 Because that kind of song is a mirror. The audience 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:32.159 can project their own romantic feelings, their 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:35.759 own spouse, their own life onto the lyrics. It's 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:38.490 a blank canvas for the listener. So it's basically 00:09:38.490 --> 00:09:40.750 do the emotional work for them. Precisely. On 00:09:40.750 --> 00:09:43.929 the other side, you have Tartop. By stepping 00:09:43.929 --> 00:09:47.149 into semi -autobiographical territory, the band 00:09:47.149 --> 00:09:49.429 is no longer acting as a mirror. They are acting 00:09:49.429 --> 00:09:51.490 as a window. Oh, that's a great way to put it. 00:09:51.629 --> 00:09:53.509 They are asking the audience to look at them. 00:09:53.629 --> 00:09:55.809 They are removing the blank canvas and saying, 00:09:56.049 --> 00:10:00.200 here is our specific personal history. The listener 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:03.320 is suddenly an observer, not a participant. And 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.639 the radio programmers and a fraction of the fans 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:07.759 just rejected that shift. Wait, I have to jump 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:09.799 in here. Because this feels like a brutal lesson 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:12.419 from the music industry. Alabama basically had 00:10:12.419 --> 00:10:15.000 to choose. Keep feeding the machine to stay at 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.740 number one or tell the truth and drop to number 00:10:17.740 --> 00:10:20.240 seven. Yep, that was the trade -off. In 1987, 00:10:20.779 --> 00:10:23.039 they chose the truth. They dropped their incredibly 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:25.919 successful signature mellow style for a moment. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.559 to release something inherently more vulnerable, 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:30.480 and the market immediately punishes them for 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:33.039 it. What does that say to you about the industry's 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:36.259 appetite for authenticity versus a comfortable 00:10:36.259 --> 00:10:39.059 formula? I mean, it says that the market's relationship 00:10:39.059 --> 00:10:41.639 with an artist is entirely conditional. Audiences 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:43.740 claim they want authenticity. We hear that word 00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:45.740 thrown around constantly in culture today. Oh, 00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:47.940 all the time. Everyone wants to be authentic. 00:10:48.059 --> 00:10:50.899 Right. But... What the commercial data often 00:10:50.899 --> 00:10:53.779 shows and what this broken streak vividly illustrates 00:10:53.779 --> 00:10:56.600 is that audiences actually want reliability. 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.320 They form a parasocial bond, not with the actual 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:02.700 human beings in the band, but with the feeling 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:05.860 the band's music gives them. When Alabama shifted 00:11:05.860 --> 00:11:08.759 from providing a universal romantic feeling to 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:12.200 sharing a semi -autobiographical story, a portion 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:14.360 of that audience simply didn't make the jump 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:16.159 with them. They just wanted the feeling back. 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:18.399 Exactly. The formula is comfortable because it 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:20.879 doesn't challenge the listener. Authenticity 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:22.860 is risky because it demands a different kind 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:25.759 of attention, and commercial radio is not built 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:28.759 for challenging attention. That is just wild 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:30.940 to me. You try to show the world who you really 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:34.059 are and the world says, that's nice, but we prefer 00:11:34.059 --> 00:11:36.840 the meticulously engineered ballad, please. Pretty 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.419 much. But the story doesn't end in defeat, which 00:11:39.419 --> 00:11:42.379 is the best part of all this. Immediately after 00:11:42.379 --> 00:11:45.639 Tartop broke the streak, they turned right around 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:48.820 in early 1988 and started a brand new streak 00:11:48.820 --> 00:11:51.279 with the song Face to Face. which highlights 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:53.500 their incredible resilience both as a business 00:11:53.500 --> 00:11:56.100 and as artists. Yeah, they didn't just give up. 00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:58.919 No, a lesser group might have spiraled after 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:02.139 losing a record breaking streak. The psychological 00:12:02.139 --> 00:12:05.000 blow of the tower falling could have led to second 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:08.120 guessing every single creative decision, firing 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:10.879 the producers, panicking. Totally, just tearing 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.659 it all down. Instead, they absorbed the feedback, 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:16.179 recalibrated their approach, and immediately 00:12:16.179 --> 00:12:18.679 returned to the top of the mountain. It proves 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:20.700 that the foundation they built wasn't a fluke. 00:12:20.860 --> 00:12:22.960 They knew exactly how the machine worked, and 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:24.720 they proved they could just turn it back on whenever 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:27.379 they wanted. Speaking of perfectly engineered 00:12:27.379 --> 00:12:31.460 emotional products targeting very specific demographics, 00:12:32.899 --> 00:12:36.379 I have to bring up a bizarre but absolutely essential 00:12:36.379 --> 00:12:38.799 piece of trivia that shows up in the record for 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:40.600 this song. I know exactly what you're gonna say. 00:12:40.779 --> 00:12:43.759 because it paints such a vivid picture of how 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.379 wonderfully crowded and chaotic the pop culture 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:49.860 landscape was at this exact moment in 1986. It 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:52.580 really is a perfect snapshot of how weird pop 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:55.200 culture is. I can't ignore it. Yeah. If you look 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:58.240 this song up online today, databases and encyclopedias 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.240 explicitly take the time to note that this Alabama 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:04.759 song, You've Got the Touch, is entirely unrelated 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:07.139 to Stan Bush's song of a very similar title, 00:13:07.259 --> 00:13:10.299 The Touch, from the 1986 Transformers animated 00:13:10.299 --> 00:13:12.460 movie. This raises such an important question 00:13:12.460 --> 00:13:15.620 about how we archive culture and how linguistic 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:17.899 blank canvases work. Right. Why do we even need 00:13:17.899 --> 00:13:20.440 that warning? Well, encyclopedias have to make 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:22.779 these distinctions because human memory is messy 00:13:22.779 --> 00:13:24.379 and search algorithms rhythms are completely 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:27.360 literal. But when you step back, it's a fascinating 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:29.779 reflection of cultural convergence. You've got 00:13:29.779 --> 00:13:32.659 the touch is just a floating idiom. It's a phrase 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:35.279 that means everything and nothing all at once. 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:38.259 It's the ultimate blank canvas phrase. Exactly. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:41.360 And because of that, you have two completely 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:44.580 different corners of 1986 pop culture, pulling 00:13:44.580 --> 00:13:46.779 it down from the ether at the exact same time. 00:13:46.990 --> 00:13:50.070 On one side, you have the pinnacle of country 00:13:50.070 --> 00:13:52.690 music commercial dominance, crafting a mellow 00:13:52.690 --> 00:13:56.009 romantic ballad to sell to housewives. And on 00:13:56.009 --> 00:13:58.450 the other side, you have a heavy driving synth 00:13:58.450 --> 00:14:01.529 rock anthem backing up animated action packed 00:14:01.529 --> 00:14:04.269 alien robots fighting to the death in a cartoon 00:14:04.269 --> 00:14:07.509 movie. It is exactly like showing up to a massive 00:14:07.509 --> 00:14:11.450 1986 New Year's Eve party wearing the exact same 00:14:11.450 --> 00:14:13.940 outfit as someone else across the room. Except 00:14:13.940 --> 00:14:16.000 in this case, one person is a mellow country 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:18.299 singer holding an acoustic guitar, and the other 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:20.940 is an action -packed laser -blasting Autobot. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:22.679 And they just kind of look each other from across 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:24.419 the punch bowl and give a little nod. Life phrase! 00:14:24.580 --> 00:14:27.740 Thanks, you two. The fact that the historical 00:14:27.740 --> 00:14:29.580 record actually has to put up a guardrail to 00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:32.059 keep people from confusing an Alabama love song 00:14:32.059 --> 00:14:34.679 with an Autobot battle anthem is just a delightful 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:37.399 quirk of history. It's so good. But it reinforces 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:39.179 the point we made earlier about the Nashville 00:14:39.179 --> 00:14:42.200 system. Both of these songs were hyper -manufactured 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:44.620 emotional products of the 1980s. Oh, that's true. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:47.299 One was manufactured for romantic vulnerability, 00:14:47.379 --> 00:14:49.659 and the other was manufactured to sell plastic 00:14:49.659 --> 00:14:53.100 robot toys to 10 -year -olds. They both utilized 00:14:53.100 --> 00:14:55.980 the exact same linguistic tool to get the job 00:14:55.980 --> 00:14:58.679 done. It really is the best kind of trivia, because 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:00.980 it connects directly back to the mechanics of 00:15:00.980 --> 00:15:05.629 the industry. OK, so... What does this all mean 00:15:05.629 --> 00:15:07.850 for you, the listener? Bringing it back home. 00:15:08.370 --> 00:15:11.669 Always. We've traveled from the specific bricks 00:15:11.669 --> 00:15:14.529 of a perfect country ballad, through the immense 00:15:14.529 --> 00:15:17.870 pressure of a 21 -song Jenga tower, the commercial 00:15:17.870 --> 00:15:20.769 sting of an autobiographical misstep, and even 00:15:20.769 --> 00:15:22.990 into the realm of animated robots. Quite the 00:15:22.990 --> 00:15:25.350 journey. But bringing it back to your daily life. 00:15:25.500 --> 00:15:28.360 where you were lying on your own signature mellow 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.259 style. Are there areas in your work, your hobbies, 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:33.259 or your relationships where you figured out the 00:15:33.259 --> 00:15:35.460 exact formula for success and you're basically 00:15:35.460 --> 00:15:37.419 just playing the hits because it's safe and you 00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:39.600 know it works? That's a tough question to ask 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.460 yourself. It is. And more importantly, are you 00:15:42.460 --> 00:15:44.980 terrified of your own tartop moment? Are you 00:15:44.980 --> 00:15:48.220 avoiding taking a personal, authentic risk simply 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:50.299 because you're afraid of breaking a streak you've 00:15:50.299 --> 00:15:52.850 built up over the years? That is really the core 00:15:52.850 --> 00:15:55.409 takeaway here. Success is so often measured by 00:15:55.409 --> 00:15:58.049 what we can consistently output without failing. 00:15:58.909 --> 00:16:01.850 The industry and society at large rewards the 00:16:01.850 --> 00:16:03.990 streak. They reward the 21 number ones. They 00:16:03.990 --> 00:16:07.629 absolutely do. But true growth, both creatively 00:16:07.629 --> 00:16:10.549 and personally, might actually be measured by 00:16:10.549 --> 00:16:12.710 the streaks we are willing to intentionally break. 00:16:13.289 --> 00:16:15.549 It takes courage to step away from a winning 00:16:15.549 --> 00:16:18.250 formula, to stop being a mirror for everyone 00:16:18.250 --> 00:16:21.110 else's expectations, and to try something real. 00:16:21.250 --> 00:16:23.450 Even if it costs you. Right. Even if it means 00:16:23.450 --> 00:16:25.649 you only peak at number seven for a while. Growth 00:16:25.649 --> 00:16:27.789 is the streak you're willing to break. I love 00:16:27.789 --> 00:16:30.769 that. Which leaves us with one final thought 00:16:30.769 --> 00:16:33.490 to mull over as we wrap up this deep dive. Let's 00:16:33.490 --> 00:16:36.330 hear it. We started by imagining 21 flawless 00:16:36.330 --> 00:16:39.600 days at work. But if a 21 song streak of perfect 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:41.860 number ones is finally broken, simply because 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:44.840 an artist decides to release something semi -autobiographical, 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:48.840 it forces us to ask, is ultimate unbroken commercial 00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:51.159 perfection only possible when you keep your true 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:53.100 personal story completely out of the music?